Florida Department of CorrectionsJulie L. Jones, Secretary

Sentencing Guidelines 1995-96 Annual Report, Part II: Impact

Section 1. Use of Incarcerative Sanctions

GOAL: Use of incarcerative sanctions is
prioritized toward offenders convicted of serious offenses
and certain offenders who have long prior records, in order
to maximize the finite capacities of state and local correctional
facilities. F.S. 921.001(4)(a)7.

FACT: Serious offenders
and non-violent offenders with long prior records represented
a larger proportion of state prison admissions under the 1994
and 1995 versions of the guidelines compared to pre-1994 guidelines.

Prison
Admissions

Offense Group

Pre-1994 Policy

1994/95 Policy

Violent

30.0%

41.2%

Property

34.2%

28.1%

Drug

31.0%

23.4%

Other

4.7%

7.2%

FINDINGS:

Overall, the proportion of violent offenses has dramatically
increased, from 30.0% of prison admissions in FY 1992-93
to 41.2% in FY 1995-96 (Figure
1).

In line with the goals of the sentencing guidelines, the
proportion of prison admissions for less serious drug offenses
have decreased from 31.0% in FY 1992-93 to 23.4% in FY 1995-96
(Table 1).

Murder/Manslaughter offenses represented 4.9% of all state
prison admissions in FY 1995-96, up from 3.4% in FY 1992-93
(Table 1).

Sexual/Lewd Assault offenses increased by 2.0% among those
admitted to state prison, from 2.9% in FY 1992-93 to 4.9%
in FY 1995-96 (Table 1).

As the proportion of violent offender admissions to prison
increased, these offenders represented a smaller proportion
of admissions to community supervision. More of the offenders
admitted to community supervision committed drug offenses
and other less serious offenses (Figure
2 and Table 2).

Prison admissions of nonviolent, 3rd degree felony offenders
have become more heavily focused on those with long prior
prison records. For example, drug offenders with two or
more prior prison sentences represented 55.1% of all 3rd
degree felony convictions in FY 1995-96, up from 37.7% in
FY 1992-93 (Table 3).

NOTE: The admissions from FY
1992-93 utilized for these analyses, include only cases with
offense dates on or after 1/1/91. This restriction allows
comparability to the 1994 guidelines structure which was in
effect for offenses committed on or after January 1, 1994.